Invisible Illness

"As a sleuth and storyteller, Emily Mendenhall looks behind the curtain at the little-known backstory of how the medical community has, for far too long, delegitimized ‘invisible‘ diseases that have wreaked havoc on thousands of lives over decades, bringing us into the present with the public health catastrophe of long Covid. Invisible Illness is a call to arms to rethink how we approach infection-associated chronic illness."--Wes Ely, author of Every Deep-Drawn Breath and NIH-funded long Covid physician-scientist "Mendenhall brings a poetic sensibility to lifting up chronic illness. She stands at the nexus of science and democracy, showcasing how the disabled rally together to live lives of dignity."--Ryan Prior, author of The Long Haul: How Long Covid Survivors Are Revolutionizing Healthcare "This book challenges us to address discrimination in clinical care for people with complex chronic conditions like long Covid, questioning why some are believed while others aren‘t--a persistent disparity in US healthcare."--Oni Blackstock, physician and founder of Health Justice "Meticulously researched and exquisitely argued, Invisible Illness illuminates how biomedicine‘s struggle with ambiguity leaves suffering patients paying the price. Deeply compassionate and astutely incisive, Mendenhall‘s book is an outstanding contribution."--Rebecca J. Lester, Professor of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis "Mendenhall cuts a crystal-clear path through the thicket of diagnostic loose ends and symptom shifters surrounding complex chronic conditions to offer a gender-sensitive intersectional analysis of illnesses that are never invisible to the activists and allies who confront them."--Rayna Rapp, coauthor of Disability Worlds